View source for Mušḫuššu

{{short description|Dragon-like creature from Mesopotamian mythology}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name              = Mušḫuššu<br>{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}}
|image             = Mušḫuššu on a vase of Gudea, circa 2100 BCE.jpg
|caption           = Mušḫuššu holding a gate post on a vase of [[Gudea]] {{circa|2100}} BCE. [[Louvre Museum]]<ref name=MPS156>{{cite book|last1=Wiggermann|first1=F. A. M.|title=Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts|date=1992|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-90-72371-52-2|page=156|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYX64ZkwkMIC&pg=PA156|language=en}}</ref>
|Grouping          = [[Mythological hybrid]]
|AKA               = Sirrush
|Folklore         = [[Babylonian mythology]]
|Region            = [[Mesopotamia]]
}}
[[File:Sirrush.jpg|thumb|260px|Mušḫuššu [[bas-relief]] in the [[Pergamon Museum]]]]
The '''''mušḫuššu''''' ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}}}}; formerly also read as {{lang|sux-Latn|sirrušu}} or {{lang|sux-Latn|sirrush}}) or '''mushkhushshu''' ({{IPA-all|muʃxuʃʃu|pron}} or {{IPA-all|musxussu|}}) is a creature from [[ancient Mesopotamian religion|ancient Mesopotamian mythology]]. A [[mythological hybrid]], it is a scaly animal with hind legs resembling the talons of an [[eagle]], [[lion]]-like forelimbs, a long neck and tail, two horns on its head, a snake-like tongue, and a crest. The {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}} most famously appears on the [[Ishtar Gate]] of the city of [[Babylon]], dating to the sixth century BCE.
The form {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}} is the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] nominative of {{langx|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲𒍽}} MUŠ.ḪUŠ}}, 'reddish snake', sometimes also translated as 'fierce snake'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?searchword=l=muc-huc%20p=N%20a=type@of@serpent&charenc=gcirc&sortorder=textno|title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|publisher=The ETCSL project, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford|date=2006-12-19|access-date=2014-08-25}}</ref> One author,<ref name=costello>{{cite book|last1=Costello|first1=Peter|title=In Search of Lake Monsters|url=https://archive.org/details/insearchoflakemo00cost|via=Internet Archive|publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan|url-access=registration|date=1974|isbn=9780698106130}}</ref> possibly following others, translates it as 'splendour serpent' ({{lang|sux|{{cuneiform|𒈲}} MUŠ}} is the Sumerian term for 'serpent'). The older reading {{lang|sux-Latn|sir-ruššu}} is due to a [[Cuneiform#Transliteration|mistransliteration of the cuneiform]] in early [[Assyriology]]<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Oppenheim|editor-first1=A. Leo|editor-last2=Reiner|editor-first2=Erica|year=1977|title=The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago|publisher=[[University of Chicago Oriental Institute]]|location=Chicago, IL|url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/cad_m2.pdf|volume=10: M, Part II|page=270|isbn=0-918986-16-8}}</ref> and was often used as a placeholder before the actual reading was discovered.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Ceram |first=C. W. |title=Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |year=1967 |edition=2nd |location=New York |pages=294 |translator-last=Garside |translator-first=E. B. |author-link=C. W. Ceram |translator-last2=Wilkins |translator-first2=Sophie}}</ref>
==History==
Mušḫuššu already appears in Sumerian religion and art, as in the "[[:File:Girsu Gudea libation vase.jpg|Libation vase of Gudea]]", dedicated to [[Ningishzida]] by the Sumerian ruler [[Gudea]] (21st century BCE [[short chronology]]).<ref name=MPS156/><ref name=MPS168>{{cite book|last1=Wiggermann|first1=F. A. M.|title=Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts|date=1992|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=978-90-72371-52-2|page=168|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYX64ZkwkMIC&pg=PA168|language=en}}</ref>
The {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}} was the [[sacred animal]] of [[Marduk]] and his son [[Nabu]] during the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]. The dragon Mušḫuššu, whom Marduk once vanquished, became his symbolic animal and servant.<ref name=MPS157>{{cite book|last1=Wiggermann|first1=F. A. M.|title=Mesopotamian Protective Spirits: The Ritual Texts|date=1992|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=978-90-72371-52-2|page=157|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYX64ZkwkMIC&pg=PA157|language=en}}</ref> It was taken over by Marduk from [[Tishpak]], the local god of [[Eshnunna]].<ref name="BienkowskiMillard2000">{{cite book|last1=Bienkowski|first1=Piotr|last2=Millard|first2=Alan Ralph|title=Dictionary of the Ancient Near East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdlhaAfK1sYC&pg=PA189|year=2000|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-3557-9|page=189}}</ref>
The [[constellation Hydra]] was known in Babylonian astronomical texts as [[Bašmu]], 'the Serpent' ({{cuneiform|{{linktext|𒀯|𒈲}}}}, <sup>MUL.d</sup>MUŠ). It was depicted as having the torso of a fish, the tail of a snake, the forepaws of a lion, the hind legs of an eagle, wings, and a head comparable to the {{lang|akk-Latn|mušḫuššu}}.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wiggerman|first=F. A. M.|editor-last1=Finkel|editor-first1=I. L.|editor-last2=Geller|editor-first2= M. J.|date=1 January 1997|title=Sumerian Gods and their Representations|chapter=Transtigridian Snake Gods|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/540407|publisher=Styx Publications|location=Groningen, Netherlands|series=Cuneiform Monographs|volume=7|pages=34–35|isbn=978-90-56-93005-9}}</ref><ref>E. Weidner, Gestirn-Darstellungen auf Babylonischen Tontafeln (1967) Plates IX–X.</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
Marduk and pet.jpg|9th century BCE depiction of the [[Statue of Marduk]], with his servant dragon Mušḫuššu at his feet. This was Marduk's main [[cult image]] in Babylon.
File:Image from page 39 of "Ancient seals of the Near East" (1940).jpg|Late Assyrian seal from the 8th century BCE showing a worshipper between [[Nabu]] and [[Marduk]], standing on their servant dragon Mušḫuššu.
File:Head of dragon-AO 4106-IMG 8988-gradient.jpg|Head of dragon dating from the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] (626 BCE{{snd}}539 BCE) from the [[Louvre Museum]]'s collection
</gallery>
== See also ==
{{Portal|Asia}}
* [[Ningishzida]]
* [[Set animal]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Notes==
:1.{{note|a}} Similar to the [[Set animal#Identification|Set animal]] in [[Egyptian mythology]] and the [[Qilin#Origins|Qilin]] in [[Chinese mythology]].
==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/ldpd_10797913_000 The Excavations at Babylon]
{{commons category|Mushussu}}
{{Sumerian mythology|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mushussu}}
[[Category:Archaeological artifacts]]
[[Category:Babylonian art and architecture]]
[[Category:Dragons]]
[[Category:Mesopotamian legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Mythological hybrids]]
[[Category:Offspring of Tiamat]]